Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development
School of Psychology, Birkbeck College
Mail: Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX
Office: Henry Wellcome Building, Room 105
Email: ori.ossmy@bbk.ac.uk
Website: https://www.physicalcoglab.co.uk/

Phone: +44 (0)20 3926 1132

Physical cognition is ubiquitous across every age and culture—how to navigate a cluttered environment, use a tool, and so on. As our bodies, skills, and environments change, new physical problems emerge and require new means to solve them. With learning and development, children respond more adaptively and efficiently to environmental challenges and opportunities. With injury and ageing, responses become less adaptive and efficient. My overarching goal is to understand (and intervene on) the processes that underlie changes in physical cognition and behavioural problem solving.

My research is based on the working assumption that macro behavioural changes occurring over relatively long time periods—changes due to learning, development, injury, and rehabilitation—emerge from micro, real-time experiences. These real-time experiences, in turn, play out in an interactive system of perceptual, neural, cognitive, and motor processes. The efficiency of these processes and their interactions differs widely among individuals.

The work in my Physical Cognition Lab reflects a unique integration of theory and methods drawn from developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and motor control where I use state-of-the-art concepts and technologies to address critical questions about behavioural problem solving. Bridging the theoretical with the technical, I combine interdisciplinary perspectives (development, behaviour, neuroscience, motor control, computer science), recording methods (fMRI, EEG, EMG, tACS, ECoG, single-unit recordings, eye tracking, motion tracking, virtual reality, and video), analytic techniques (real-time, machine learning, and robotics), populations (infants to elderly adults and patients), and behavioural tasks (manual and locomotor).

· Cheng, M., Han, D., Haq, M., Ossmy, O. (in press). Physical cognition in altered gravity: Link between sensorimotor and cognitive adaptability. iScience

· Masek, L., Suarez-Rivera, C., Ossmy, O., Tamis-Lemonda, C. (in press). The temporal distribution of speech to infants highlights connections among words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

· Hascher, S., Ossmy, O., Pontes, H. (in press). Systematic Literature Review on Psychological Treatment Methods for Substance Use Disorder and Food Addiction. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.

· Serino, G., Ossmy, O. (in press). Toward a Causal Science of Early Physical Play? Infancy

· Peleg, N., Tolmie, A., Ossmy, O. (in press). A graph-theory approach for testing children’s block construction. In IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL).

· Muszynska, M., Dalton, R., Pinti, P., Kumar, S., Farran, E., Ossmy, O. (in press). Using virtual reality and psychophysics to test individual differences in embodied cognition in children with ADHD. In IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL).*Runner-up ICDL Best BabyObserve Award

· Ossmy, O., Rowan, H., Sotoodeh, S., Hall, J., Donati, G., Forrester, G. (in press). Frequent, Scalable and Global Use of “Intelligent Onesies” to Quantify Newborns’ Spontaneous Movements in Natural Settings. In IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL). *Runner-up ICDL Best Paper Award

· Lakner, V., Ossmy, O., Mareschal, D. (in press). Computational modelling of the emergence of gaze following. In IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL).

· Ossmy, O., Donati, G., Kaur, A., Sotoodeh, S., Forrester, G. (2025). Towards automatic assessment of atypical early motor development. Brain Research Bulletin, 111311

· Grandchamp Des Raux, H., Ghilardi, T., Ossmy, O. (2025). The effects of rewards on trial-and-error learning in school-aged children. international journal of behavioral development, 0(0)

· Golmakani, S., Kaplan, B., Adolph, K. E., Ossmy, O. (2025). Children plan manual actions similarly in directed tasks and in free play. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 250, 106124.

· Ossmy, O., Han, D., MacAlpine, P., Hoch, J., Stone, P., Adolph, K. E. (2024). Walking and falling: using robot simulations to model the role of errors in infant walking. Developmental science, e13449. *Developmental Science Best Paper Award

· Grandchamp des Raux, H., Ghilardi, T., Soderberg, C., Ossmy, O. (2024). The role of action concepts in physical reasoning: insights from late childhood. Philosophical Transactions B, 379(1911), 20230154.

· Cherry, L., Soderberg, C., Haetter, J., Ossmy, O. (2024). Extended reality in STEM: A modernised educational tool for children. Journal of Human Centered Technology, 3(2), 10-20.

· Cherry, L., Cheng, M., Ghilardi, T., Ossmy, O. (2024). Automatic real-time hand tracking enhances adolescents' spatial skills by eliminating haptic feedback. In IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL) (pp. 1-6).

· Krishna, A., Kaplan, B. E., Pope, J., Todorovic, S., Adolph, K. E., Ossmy, O. (2024). A computer-vision approach for testing developmental changes in object manipulation. In IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL) (pp. 1-6).

· Han, D., Aziere, N., Ossmy, O., Wang, T., Krishna, A., Shen, R., Wang, H., Todorovic, S., Adolph, K.E. (2024). Infants’ developing environment: Integration of computer vision and human annotation to quantify where infants go, what they touch, and what they see. In IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL) (pp. 1-8). *ICDL Best Paper Award

· Muszynska, M., Ossmy, O. (2024). The BlockQuest game: Digital behavioral phenotyping of ADHD using embodied serious game in virtual reality. In Joint International Conference on Serious Games. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

· Hascher, S., Ossmy, O., Pontes, H. (2024). The Application of Serious Games in Virtual Reality as Intervention for Sugar Addiction. In Joint International Conference on Serious Games. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

· Hascher, S., Shuster, A., Mukamel, R., Ossmy, O. (2023). The power of multivariate patterns in identifying EEG correlates of interlimb coupling. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 17.

· Dexter, M., Ossmy, O. (2023). The effects of typical ageing on cognitive control: recent advances and future directions. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 15.

· Ossmy, O., Kaplan, B., Han, D., Xu, M., Mukamel, R., Adolph, K.E. (2022). Real-time processes in the development of action planning. Current Biology 32, 1–10.

· Ossmy, O., Mansano, L., Frenkel-Toledo, S., Kagan, E., Koren, S., Gilron, R., Reznik, D., Soroker, N., Mukamel, R. (2022). Motor learning in Hemi-Parkinson using VR-manipulated sensory feedback. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 1-13

· Shuster, A., Inzelberg, L., Ossmy, O., Izakson, L., Hanein, Y., Levy, D. (2021). Lie to my face: An electromyography approach to deceptive behavior. Brain and Behavior, e2386

· Ossmy, O., Han, D., Kaplan, B., Xu, M., Bianco, C., Mukamel, R., Adolph, K.E. (2021). Children do not distinguish efficient from inefficient actions during observation. Scientific Reports , 11(1), 1-13.

· Le, H., Hoch, J., Ossmy, O., Adolph, K., Fern, X., Fern, A. (2021). Modeling infant free play behavior using hidden markov models. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), pp. 1-6

· Hoch, J.*, Ossmy, O.*, Hasan, S., Cole, W., Adolph, K.E. (2021). “Dancing” together: Infant-mother locomotor synchrony. Child Development, 92(4), 1337-1353

· Ossmy, O., Adolph, K.E. (2020). Real-time assembly of coordination patterns in human infants. Current Biology, 30, 1-10

· Lakertz, Y.*, Ossmy, O.*, Friedmann, N., Mukamel, R., Fried, I. (2021). Single-cell activity in human STG during perception of phonemes is organized according to manner of articulation. NeuroImage, 226, 117499.

· Ossmy, O., Han, D., Cheng, M., Kaplan, B., Adolph, K.E. (2020). Look before you fit: Real-time planning cascade in children and adults. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 189, 104696

· Ossmy, O., Mansano, L., Frenkel-Toledo, S., Kagan, E., Koren, S., Gilron, R., Reznik, D., Soroker, N., Mukamel, R. (2020). Motor learning by cross education in Hemi-Parkinson’s disease: Case study of the effects of virtual mirrored sensory feedback. 2019 International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation (ICVR), Tel Aviv, Israel, 2019, pp. 1-9

· Ossmy, O., Gilmore, R. O., & Adolph, K. E (2020). AutoViDev: A computer-vision framework to enhance and accelerate research in human development. In K. Arai & S. Kapoor (Eds.), Advances in computer vision: CVC 2019. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 944. Springer.

· Adolph, K. E., Hoch, J. E., & Ossmy, O. (2020). James Gibson’s ecological approach to locomotion and manipulation: Development and changing affordances. In J. Wagman & J. Blau (Eds.). Perception as information detection: Reflections on Gibson’s ecological approach to visual perception. New York: Taylor & Francis, pp. 248-266

· Karasik, L., Tamis-LeMonda, C.S., Ossmy, O., Adolph, K.E. (2018). The ties that bind: Cradling in Tajikistan. Plos One 13:e0204428

· Ossmy, O., Hoch, J., MacAlpine, P., Hasan, S., Stone, P., Adolph, K.E. (2018). Variety wins: Soccer-playing robots and infant walking. Frontiers in Neuro-robotics, 12:19

· Ossmy, O., Mukamel, R. (2018). Perception as a route for transfer of motor knowledge: Perspectives from human neuroscience. Neuroscience, 382:144-153

· Aridan N.*, Ossmy, O.*, Mukamel, R. (2018). EEG mu wave suppression during action observation corresponds with subsequent individual changes in execution. Brain Research, 1691:55-63

· Ossmy, O., Mukamel, R. (2017). Behavioral and neural effects of congruency of visual feedback during short-term motor learning. NeuroImage, 172:864-873

· Ossmy, O., Mukamel, R. (2017). Using virtual reality to transfer motor skill knowledge from one hand to another. Journal of Visualized Experiments: JoVE, (127)

· Ossmy, O., Mukamel, R. (2017). Short term motor-skill acquisition improves with size of self-controlled virtual hands. PloS One, 12(1), e0168520

· Ossmy, O., Mukamel, R. (2016). Neural network underlying intermanual skill transfer in humans. Cell Reports, 17:2891-2900

· Ossmy, O., Mukamel, R. (2016). Activity in superior parietal cortex during training by observation predicts asymmetric learning levels across hands. Scientific Reports, 6:32133

· Ossmy, O., Fried, I., Mukamel, R. (2015). Decoding speech perception from single cell activity in humans. NeuroImage, 117:151-159

· Reznik, D., Ossmy, O., Mukamel, R. (2015). Enhanced auditory evoked activity to self-generated sounds is mediated by primary and supplementary motor cortices. The Journal of Neuroscience, 35:2173-2180

· Ossmy, O., Ben-Shachar, M., Mukamel, R. (2014). Decoding letter position in word reading. Cortex, 59:74-83

· Ossmy, O., Moran, R., Pfeffer, T., Tsetsos, K., Usher, M., & Donner, T. H. (2013). The timescale of perceptual evidence integration can be adapted to the environment. Current Biology, 23:981-986

· Ossmy, O., Tam, O., Puzis, R., Rokach, L., Inbar, O., & Elovici, Y. (2011). MindDesktop - computer accessibility for severely handicapped. ICEIS:316-320

· Ossmy, O., Mukamel, R. (in revision). Defining functional brain networks using unsupervised density-peak clustering. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/hkrzw

· Ossmy, O.*, Han, D.*, Cheng, M., Bianco, C., Kaplan, B., Adolph, K.E. (in revision). “Where” and “how”: Developmental processes in exploring solutions to problems with hidden demands. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/m7tcr

· Hancock, L., Ossmy, O., (in revision). Using data-driven approach to test the link between physical activity and cognitive skills during aging. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/xq4v7

· Sotoodeh, MS., Ossmy, O., Hall, J., Donatti, Rowan, H., Forrester, G. (in revision). Automatic Pose Estimation in Newborn Infants: Lessons from the Baby Grow Study.

· Ghilardi, T., Keen, R., Benzaquen, E., Ossmy, O. (in revision). Getting the proper grip: A longitudinal study of how infants learn to adapt action plans.

· Ghilardi, T., Ossmy, O. (in revision). A Pupil-dilation technique to test developmental differences in visual synchrony during free viewing. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/jae6c

· Peleg, N., Mcauley, H., Ossmy, O. (in revision). Better together: Classroom-based social intervention for spatial skills. Preprint: https://osf.io/ayvn2

· Dexter, M., Grandchamp Des Raux, H., Ossmy, O. (in revision). The effects of aging on physical reasoning.

· Muszynska, M., Ossmy, O. (under review). A multivariate analysis links variations in ADHD characteristics to physical reasoning. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/a5geh

· Muszynska, M., Varma, R., Ossmy, O. (under review). Beyond diagnosis: Why and how to use virtual reality in research on neurodiversity? https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/aq389

· Ossmy, O., Krishna, A., Ghilardi, T., Pope, J., Todorovic, S., Adolph, K.E. (under review). Computer Vision and Machine Learning Reveal Developmental Changes in Children’s Continuous Real-Time Perceptual-Motor Planning.